Pandora's Home
by asdf123150
Summary: Oz and Ada are orphans, adopted by Zai Vessalius. Gil was taken in alongside them as a servant. On Oz's fifteen birthday, his world is turned upside down, and he finds himself in a strange place, with a girl as violent as she is arrogant - which is to say a lot. And, of course, they embark on a ton of adventures alongside the rest of the Pandora Hearts cast. AU, T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I should probably finish my other fanfictions before starting ANOTHER new one (umm... I think the count's up to about... 15 now?) but I just have to get this all down before I forget it.

Oh, and if any characters seem OOC or I'm missing vital characters to the story, like the Baskervilles, or just any other way that the fanfiction doesn't correspond with the actual manga/anime... I'm sorry. It's because I've been reading too many manga and watching too many other anime lately. After a while, all the facts start to crowd each other out of your brain, so I may - probably - have forgotten many crucial details. Hope no one doesn't mind too terribly much!

And also, some things are omitted on purpose. You see, I started the idea for this fanfiction at around chapter 20 of the manga, so I didn't really realize how complicated the plot was until _after_ I'd finished planning half this story, so... Well, I just left out a TON of things on purpose in order to avoid a five hundred-chapter-long fanfiction.

So people like Elliot and Reo/Leo (if he _is_ included, I'll be calling him Reo) will maybe be left out, even though they are crucial to the Pandora Hearts plot, and etc., etc., etc.

* * *

"Gil!"

The blond boy dashed down the hall and poked his head into yet another doorway, calling out the name again.

"_Gi-iiillll!"_

"H-Hey! Ada, let me go!"

"Ada!" the boy called down the hall. "Have you found him?"

"Yeah. Oz, we're right here."

Oz dashed down the hall and turned round the corner, where a young, eight-year-old girl was somehow holding back a larger boy who was at least three years older than her.

"Gi-il!" Oz sang as he threw his arms around the slightly shorter boy. "Found you!"

Gil turned bright red and tried to push Oz off.

"O-O-Oz-sama!" he stuttered. "T-The master will be angry at me if I don't do my duties!"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Oz retorted. "If he gets angry, I'll just say I made you play with us! Right, Ada?"

The girl nodded and the ghost of a smile passed over her face.

"Honestly, you two," Gil grumbled as Oz pulled him down the hallway, closely followed by Ada, "you shouldn't be playing with a servant. You..."

Oz interrupted him with a jaunty song.

"_Me-ow!_ went the cat! And it chased the mouse!_ Me-ow_! went the cat! And away went the mouse! _Me-ow_!"

Gil turned a ghostly white. "N-Never mind," he muttered. "I-I-I'll go with you, just don't..."

"Hey, Ada," Oz said with a grin. "Didn't Cook Ramsey find a litter of kittens in the barn? She said she'd give them out to the servants! Maybe Gil will get one!"

Gil shuddered. "Fine. What do you want to play?"

"That's the spirit!" Oz chirped. "Now, Ada, what do you say? Hide-and-seek sound good to you?"

Wordlessly, she nodded.

"Okay then! Gil, you're IT!"

"Wha... Wha..."

As Gil stood there blustering and sweating and trying to figure out what the heck had just happened, Oz grabbed his sister's hand and pulled her down the hall.

"Count to fifty, Gil!" Oz yelled over his shoulder. "And no cheating!"

Before Gil had even opened his mouth to say "one", the two of them were gone. Not a single strand of their shared blond hair was left to be seen. He sighed and turned around. There was no trying to get by Oz; that kid always got what he wanted, one way or another.

He began to count.

"One... Two... Three..."

-0-o-0-o-0-

"Oooozzz!"

Gil ran and ducked his head into yet another room, cursing when he found it empty. He dashed down the hallway again, and yelled in a panic, "Oz! Come out! I forgot, it's your fifteenth birthday today! _Oz!_ Your father is going to be-"_  
_

He rounded a corner and bumped into somebody.

"A...Angry...?"

He gulped and quickly bowed, squeezing his eyes shut, trying to imagine that the blond man wasn't there. It didn't work.

"Ah. Lovely. You're the servant boy my son plays with. Gil something?"

"Gi-Gilbert," he stammered. "But O-Oz calls me G-G-Gil. M-Master, I-I was just l-l-looking for Oz..."

"I can see that," Zai Vessalius said coolly. It seemed impossible that such a cold, emotionless man could be the father of someone as cheerful and lively as Oz, and that was because they weren't truly related by blood. Zai Vessalius had taken in young Ada and Oz as his own children when they'd first shown up on his doorstep, shivering and hungry, over five years ago. Gilbert, on the other hand, with his unnatural golden eyes and his scraggly black hair that in no way resembled Zai's own, had been kept as a servant. "Once you find him, confine him to his room until the ceremony begins. I do not wish to be bothered by such trifling matters again."

Gil bowed as the man turned and walked away. Trifling matters? _Trifling matters?_ Since when was your son - adopted son, sure, but still his son - considered to be a "trifling matter"? The worse was, Gil knew that Oz didn't really mind. If he did, he sure didn't seem to show it, but it made Gil burn up inside. That man, acting like his own _son_ was just a mere annoyance...!

"Gi-iiilll!" Oz poked his head around the corner with his usual grin on his face, albeit a tad bit wider than usual. "Hey, was Father angry? I bet he was! Maybe we should keep playing for a while longer, just to make him even _more_ mad! What do you say?"

"Don't wanna make Father mad," Ada said in a small voice. "Go back to our rooms, Oz. I'm scared."

"Oz!" Gil quickly grabbed the older boy's hand and dragged him down the hall. "You heard what your father said! You're going back to your room!"

"It's going to be so booooring there, though!" Oz whined as he let himself be dragged along on the ground. "The ceremony isn't till the afternoon, and it's only, what, nine o'clock right now?" His face suddenly lit up. "I know! How about you stay with us and I can bully you for fun, until the ceremony actually starts?"

Gil blanched. "Uh... I-I've got... Duties! And - chores! I've got to go as soon as you return to your room!"

"Oh, that's no problem," Oz said cheerily. "After all, I've got... How many, again?"

"Sixteen," Ada murmured, clutching his sleeve tightly so that she wouldn't fall behind.

"Yes, that's right! Sixteen cats, all for you." He beamed at Gil's now-even-paler face. "I got sixteen cats for us to play with together. This is a direct order from your master." His face took on a devilish look. "_Stay with us and play with the kitties._ Okay?"_  
_

Gil gulped. Oz was looking at him with a triumphant grin, and Gil knew exactly why. He really, really, _really_ didn't want to spend five hours playing with _cats_ - and to make things worse, it would be five hours spent with the professional sadist, Oz Vessalius - but if he didn't, then Oz would escape again, and he'd ditch the ceremony...

"Fine," he forced out. "I'll play with you."

"Yippee!" Oz grabbed Gil's arm and dragged him down the hallway, skipping and singing a song. "_And the cat came back, the very next day, the cat came back..._"

_And let the torture begin_, Gil thought miserably.

-0-o-0-o-0-

"Geez," Oz complained, tugging at his pure white, silken tie in discomfort. "This is too tight, Gil. I thought I told you to tie it looser!"

"But...but..." Gil scurried along after him. "If I tied it any looser, it would look really messy, young master."

"It's Oz!"

Gil cringed. "Young master Oz."

Oz sighed. "Well, that'll do for now, I guess."

He turned around the corner and opened a set of doors, revealing a large ball room filled with chatting adults - lords, ladies, dukes and duchesses, along with some of their daughters that they were hoping to subtly introduce to him in the hopes that there would be an engagement. After all, who didn't want to gain from the riches of the Dukedom of Vessalius?

Gil reached out for Oz. Maybe if he just told him that everything would be all right, and that there was nothing to worry about, he wouldn't feel too much pressure. "Oz-"

"Oh, wow, Gil!" Oz exclaimed, completely ignoring the smaller boy. He clasped his hands together and stared around the room, eyes glittering with pure joy. "Look at all those pretty girls!"

Gil felt his jaw drop. He watched, frozen, as Oz skipped forward into a crowd of girls, introduced himself, and then, from what he could see, began to flirt with each and every one of them. He could practically _see_ the roses and sparkles around the young master as he wooed each young lady with some sort of corny, sappy line straight out of a romantic book.

What had ever possessed him to be worried in the first place?

"This must be destiny, Lily-san!" Oz beamed at a young girl in pink and produced a lily out of nowhere, placing it in her outstretched hand. "For me to meet somebody as lovely as you... You outshine even the flower that you were named after."

"Oh... I-I-I..." The poor girl, blushing so hard that her entire face was scarlet, stammered, "I-I-I don't know w-what you're talking about, Oz-sama! I-I... My full name is Mai Lily Anorenia... L-Lily isn't even my first name! It..." She broke off, flustered, and in that moment when her guard was down, Oz seized her hand and planted a kiss on its back. Her blush instantly intensified.

"O-Oz-sama! That's n-not proper..."

Gil had to stop this _somehow._ Letting Oz torture the girls like this was so very, very wrong. "Oz!" He barreled into the crowd and grabbed Oz's sleeve. "Oz, you have to get ready - the ceremony's going to start soon!"

Oz sighed and let Gil drag him away, blowing kisses to the girls as he walked away. Once they were out of earshot, he leaned down and whispered teasingly, "Gil, are you _jealous?_"

Gil immediately let go of Oz and jumped away. "W-What the- What do you mean by that?" he demanded. He lifted an arm to hide his blush. "J-Jealous? No way! I-It's just that, the ceremony really _is_ starting soon... Ugh! No, I'm just really worried, that's all!"

Oz grinned. "Uh-huh. _Toootally._"

"It's true!" Gil shoved Oz down the hall. "Go, already! You've got to get ready for the ceremony now!"

Oz laughed aloud and ran down the hall, seemingly headed toward the preparation room - but then again, with Oz, you could never be sure. Gil sighed. _I hope nothing goes wrong with the ceremony..._

* * *

**A/N:** No, I do _not_ ship OzxGil. I just put that in there in the spur of the moment - and just because I can tell _why_ people ship Oz and Gil. I mean, Gil is really protective of Oz, and Oz just likes to bully Gil... I ship Oz and Alice, but still not that much, because, well, the only pairing in Pandora Hearts, really, is one-sided JackxLacie and one-sided Alice(aka Alyss)xJack. It's just... Okay, Sharon and Break and pretty close, and Gil and Oz have that special relationship going on, and yes, there is definitely _something_ between Alice and Oz, but none of them actually seem romantic to me - not in the manga, at least. In my random fantasies, everything is Oz and Alice, and Alyss and Jack (spoilers: There _will be_ those two pairings in this fanfiction), and other random things happening in alternate universes. I just don't post any of them because they're too random and I'd rather work on my actual, incomplete fanfics.

And just for all you people out there who are obsessed with OOC/not OOC-ness, I've still got to adjust to writing about these characters. They are _sooo_ complex - Oz is, lemme think... He's a sadist, a playboy, a kind of MPD-deranged guy, clearly is emotionally unstable - and very probably mentally unstable, too - and... Geez, I can't even think of words to describe him. Moving on!

Is that last sentence a bit of foreshadowing, or is that just me? (It's supposed to be foreshadowing, but...I don't think I did a very good job with it.) I'm going to sporadically update this, Chrono Crusade Present Day, and the Sisters Grimm fanfic with possible month-long intervals between updates, so I'm sorry if someone puts this on their alert list and is stuck waiting for a year for the second chapter. I know how it feels and I will absolutely do my best _not_ to do that, but I'm not making any promises. Just saying.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Yaay, chapter two! I realize Sharon wasn't included in Oz's whole flirting session, and that's because THESE PEOPLE ACTUALLY DO AGE. As in, in this AU, there are no chains (spoiler!) and all the contracted people are not contracted, therefore they do not not age. Aka they age. Aka they do not not not not not not not not not not not not not NOT age. Well, actually... They kind of age, but they don't age, and at the same time they sometimes age... Just pretend that for the Pandora Hearts cast, aging is a very complicated process.

And, yay, Oz's life turns into chaos! Isn't making your characters suffer _fun?_

* * *

"So, what's the point of this again?" Oz mumbled as he flipped through the pages. Written on them were all the lines that he was supposed to say, when he was supposed to say them, and what the priest would say first. All in all, there were about five pages, double-sided, written in small script. He tossed them aside and the maids shrieked.

"Oz-sama!" One of them rushed forward and began to gather them all up. "Oz-sama, you must take good care of these pages for now! It is only a few minutes until the ceremony begins, and we don't have the time to recopy all these pages!"

"Ah, whatever!" Oz sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I just wish that the ceremony was over with already! It's so stupid, anyways!"

"Don't say that, Oz-sama," the maid chided. "It's very important - today is the day you officially become an adult."

She shoved the papers back into his hands, and he sighed again. "I wish the stupid ceremony didn't have to take place," he muttered.

-0-o-0-o-0-

"And now... Please welcome Oz Vessalius, who is officially turning into an adult today!"

Oz fidgeted and looked around. He didn't see his father anywhere, but that wasn't much of a surprise - his father preferred to not have to see him if possible. He sighed, then turned back to the priest and began to recite his lines.

"I, Oz of the Vessalius household, do swear..."

Before he could get any further than that, he heard a loud explosion. Then the acrid scent of smoke hit him.

_Smoke?_

He looked up, aware that he wasn't meant to right at that moment, but wanting to anyway. Why did he smell smoke? It couldn't be - the house?

He heard a loud bang and spun around. Standing at the entrance to the ballroom, leaning on one of the doors, stood one of his family's butlers. The man held his arm, which had turned an unnatural shade of red, and yelled, "Everyone, _out!_ The house is on fire!"

Everything after that was a blur.

Oz could faintly remember falling as the priest yelled and shoved him aside, dashed to the doors, and escaped. He thought that he stayed there for a few minutes as everyone else began running, panicked, and then getting up and forcing his way over to the doors. He'd turned around and run back in, searching for Gil and his younger sister, but he hadn't been able to find them - everyone's faces were blurred in his memory. He stayed there long after the guests had left, searching for the only two people who were precious to him. He searched behind the potted plants, behind curtains, under tables and chairs, but couldn't find them. He remembered a faint sense of panic as the room filled with a thick cloud of smoke, and he could remember a faint, stinging pain that he guessed was from jumping out a window. Then, for a long time, he ran.

He ran outside, over the lawn, refusing to look back at the raging inferno that had consumed his house. He ran into the woods that his father and guests sometimes hunted in, and he ran until he felt like his lungs would burst and his legs would fall off. When he fell, he crawled. He crawled until his hands and knees were bloody and sore, and when his lungs and his feet couldn't take it anymore, he clawed his way over to a tree stump, somehow pulling himself up on it to sit and rest. His vision blurred and his eyelids drooped, and, exhausted, he shut his eyes and fell over.

The last thing he remembered was the feeling of falling.

-0-o-0-o-0-

"Hey, kid. Human. Wake _up!_"

Oz felt something hit him on the top of his head, and he bolted upright, only to hit the person with his forehead.

"Owww! You stupid human! Apologize for that!"

"Apologize for what?"

The girl - it sounded like a girl - smacked him on the head again. "Duh! Apologize for hitting me!"

"You hit me first!" Oz gingerly felt the top of his head. It was bruised, for sure. He peered up at his attacker. "Who are you, anyway?"

The girl grinned and stood up, crossing her arms. Her red-and-white cloak billowed around her as she yelled, "I am the Bloody Black Rabbit - the B-Rabbit for short - and I am the most powerful person around here, so you'd better bow down to me and beg for forgiveness, human!"

Oz peered around. In every direction, as far as he could see, there was wilderness - giant trees and dangerous-looking vines, all enshrouded in darkness. He looked up; the sky was dark, as though it were night, minus the moon and stars. Even the ground was a dark, sickly green. "It doesn't look like there's anybody around except for the two of us."

She hit him again, and as he clutched his head in agony, she grumbled, "Well, there used to be. Before they all left and shut me up in this place."

He peeked up at her. _Bloody Black Rabbit?_ Sure, those two bits of extra-short hair on the sides of her head kind of looked like rabbit ears, and her hair _was_ a dark brown - not quite black, but close enough - but... She looked more like a cute black bunny than a 'bloody black rabbit'. "Who named you that?"

She glared at him. "_I_ did. Why, got a problem with it?"

"No, but it sounds more like a joke that your family or friends would call you..." He blinked. "Gil! Ada! What happened to them?"

"Who the heck are _Gil_ and _Ada_?" she asked scornfully. "Look - give up on finding them, okay? There's no way out of here. I've been trying for at least five years. Maybe if I had a partner like _they_ do, I'd be able to get out, but-" She paused and stared at Oz. He stared back at her.

"What?"

She narrowed her eyes and leaned down over him. He felt beads of sweat begin to run down his neck. "Uh...what is it?"

She sighed and turned away, dismissing him. "Nah. No way a _stupid, useless kid_ like _you_ would be able to be my partner."

He felt like the words were enormous five-ton weights falling on top of him. "Uh... Um..."

She didn't stop there. "How could somebody who got himself trapped in here possibly help me get out? And if you're stupid enough to get stuck here, then obviously you're _waaay_ stupider than me, so there's no way you'd be of _any _help."

"W.. Wait a minute..."

"You haven't even got any powers, I bet, so how are you-"

"Ooh! Ýou've got magic powers?"

She paused mid-rant and gaped at him. "What?"

His appearance had changed completely. He crouched on his knees and clasped his hands together, beaming up at her. She felt sick - she could practically see the stars in his eyes. "Ooh! So you're the _magical_ B-Rabbit! Amazing! I've never met somebody with actual _magic _before! Can you show me your powers? Please? Pretty please?"

She could feel her eyebrow begin to twitch. "You're on your knees in front of the Bloody B-Rabbit, the only person you'll ever meet again in your life; you're stuck in an unfamiliar place you'll never leave ever again; you don't know where the heck you are or what happened to your friends-"

"Sister and friend," he corrected. "Although Gil's more like a cute little brother that I can torture all day long."

"-and all you can say is _can you show me your magic powers? _What are you, _crazy?_"

He grinned. "Nah. I'm just really good at adapting. You're right, I'll probably never leave here, since you couldn't find a way out after half a decade of searching, so why not just accept that fact? I'm _much_ more interested in your magic right now! Show me! Show me! Show me!"

She watched him hop around her like a cutesy bunny and sighed. "Jeez," she groaned. "Why does my first companion in five years have to be this crazy kid? Fine!" she snapped at him. He instantly sat back on his heels and beamed up at her like a chipmunk. "Just shut up already! I'll show you my stupid magic powers!"

"Ooh! What can you do?" He put a finger on his chin. "Can you turn invisible? Can you teleport? Oh, maybe you can transform into a bunny rabbit!"

Her face heated up, and he grinned. "I was right, wasn't I? You can turn into a rabbit!"

"I don't only transform into a rabbit!" she snapped, still blushing. "I can do this, too!"

She stuck out her hand, and Oz watched as two giant chains flew out from behind her back. She flicked her wrist and they plunged toward him, tying him up.

"I can make chains," she said, watching him struggle in satisfaction. "Only two, for some reason, because even though I can only make one chain if I've got one braid, more than two braids still make only two chains-"

"Braids?" He rolled over and stared at her hair. "I don't see any braids."

She kicked him. "Well, that's because they've turned into chains now, idiot!"

He giggled. "Ohhh... That makes a lot of sense! That's really cool, B-Rabbit!"

She kicked him again. "Don't call me B-Rabbit! When you say it like that..." She shuddered. "It feels like you really want to say 'little bunny'."

"Yeah, but you _are_ a little bunny, aren't you?"

She blushed and kicked him again. "No, I'm not!"

He laughed as she crossed her arms and pouted. "Okay, fine then. What do you want me to call you?"

She frowned. "I'm only telling you my real name because of the way you say "B-Rabbit." Got it?"

He grinned. "Got it!"

"Alice."

"That's a pretty name, A~lice~!"

He watched as a vein began to pulse in her temple. _Oops, was that going a bit too far...?_

"Argh!" she yelled. "You stupid human! I shouldn't have told you my real name!"

She lifted her hands up like she was holding something, and the air around her hands began to shimmer. "I... Am..."

The shimmer began to darken, and Oz began to scuttle backward as quickly as possible. _Uh-oh, not good..._

A huge, blood-red scythe - the handle alone was longer than him, not to mention the blade - materialized in her hands, and she swung it down in fury. _"B-Rabbit! Don't you forget that, human!"_

* * *

**A/N:** Uh... My writing gets really bad near the end...and that's a really bad chapter ending... But I'm actually going somewhere with this, and trust me, there's a plot - an amazing plot, if I do say so myself - so just hang on and wait till then. Okay? The best part is the ending. Ah, how angsty and sad it will be~

Oh, and just a random note: Isn't this so cool? This: ~ It's so perfect for Oz~! Since some of his lines are kinda sing-song type (I don't know a better way to describe it), instead of just saying that he said it in a singsong voice, I'll just use this. It's so cool~! I've got no idea what it's called or what it should be used for, but it is awesome!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Hey, I'm baaaack~! Still haven't gotten over the awesomeness of that thing. My characters are probably a bit OOC, but I'm trying my best to fix that - not that it's working too horribly well...

* * *

The scythe swung down toward Oz. He squeaked and shut his eyes, certain that the next time he opened them, he would be cut in half. But the pain he'd been expecting didn't come. Instead, he heard a loud clanging sound.

"Argh! Stupid chains!"

He cracked open one eye. The scythe had gotten tangled in the chains Alice had conjured, and he breathed a sigh of relief. The sigh quickly turned into a squeal when the chains vanished.

"You..." Alice lifted the scythe above him. "You stupid little... You thought you'd gotten away, didn't you? Well, guess what? The chains are gone. Now there's nothing to save you, insolent human. Die!"

"Eek!" Oz swung his arms up instinctively. "Alice, stop!"

To his surprise, the scythe halted millimeters away from his skin.

"You stupid human!" Alice yelled. She glared at the scythe. "What did you do to me?"

Oz stared at her. She was trying so hard to move that her entire body was shaking, but the scythe stayed right where it was. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew! I thought I was a goner there!"

"You stupid... You stupid servant! Stop whatever you're doing, _now!_"

Oz flinched and scurried back a bit. "You know, Alice," he said in a shaky, yet teasing, voice, "I obviously won't stop whatever I'm doing if you're going to try so hard to kill me right after."

She glared at him. "How dare you speak to the mighty B-Rabbit like that, you stupid manservant!"

Oz sighed. "Look, just put down the scythe and we can talk, okay?"

The scythe vanished. Alice felt the pressure holding her up vanish, and she fell to the ground in a heap.

"Wha...?" She blinked, dazed, and stared down at her hands. "What just happened?"

Oz stared at her, wide-eyed, unsure of what had just happened. "Well." He laughed. "At least you've calmed down."

She stood up and glanced around her, wide-eyed. "No. No, she couldn't have already made it all the way here."

Oz watched her, slightly perplexed. "'She'? Who's 'she'?"

Alice, clearly not listening, whirled onto Oz. "Hey, manservant! How did you do that?"

"Uh...do what?"

"Bring out that scythe!" She bounced forward and landed in his lap, bunny-like. Her eyes were twinkling with a strange, hungry fire. "You did it somehow! How? Tell me right now!"

Oz scurried backward, but she followed him until he was backed up against a tree. He gulped. The look in her eyes was frightening him. "Uh... I didn't do anything..."

Her face darkened. "If you won't tell me, I'll just have to force it out of you."

"N-No!" he yelped. "I-I-I really don't know! Really, Alice!"

She glared at him, still suspicious, and finally sighed. "Fine," she muttered. "And here I thought you were like..." Her eyes widened.

Oz began to shuffle to the side. _The look_ was back again.

"Manservant!"

He felt the hairs stand up on the back of his neck as Alice stood up and pointed at him with a flourish. "Manservant! Make a contract with me!"

He gaped at her. "Uh..."

She leaned down over him with a triumphant - if somewhat arrogant - smile. "I bet that you're the reason I could bring out that scythe, so even though you seem like a useless, smiling _moron_, you're good for something. If we make a contract, then I'll be able to use my powers whenever!"

Oz shivered. The thought of Alice being able to access the scythe at any time didn't exactly make him feel relieved. Alice noticed his shiver and glared at him.

"Fine," she muttered. "Think of it this way. If you make the contract with me, I bet I'll be able to break us both out of this place."

She could clearly tell from the widening of his eyes that she'd hit something good, and continued with a slight smirk. "So if you make a contract with me, we'll be able to get out, and then you'll be able to see your stupid family again. Doesn't that sound like a good idea?"

"How can I make the contract?"

This time, it was Alice's eyes that grew wider. She'd expected him to be determined to get back to his world, but not _this_ determined. She stared into his eyes, which were steely and bright with a bravery that she`d never seen before. Slowly, the smirk spread to cover her entire face, cheek to cheek.

"Well, that's easy," she murmured, sliding a gloved hand under his chin and tilting his face upward. "Just swear to never leave my side."

She could see his hesitation in his eyes, but it lasted for only a moment. Then he took a deep breath and exhaled. "Alice, I swear to never leave your side. There. Is the contract done?"

Her grin widened. Oh, it was so _easy!_ Didn't this kid have any idea what he was getting himself into? "Not quite yet."

She bit down on her lip, wincing slightly as her teeth broke through the skin. There was a little nagging voice in the back of her head, telling her that this was _wrong,_ that the boy would probably react badly, but she ignored it. Speed was key here, and the element of surprise. She lifted her other hand and placed it on his cheek, then leaned over and pressed her lips against his.

His body froze. She couldn't think of any other way to describe it. He went as stiff as a cutting board, but she ignored it, first biting down on his lower lip, then sucking the few drops of blood that welled up. She ran her tongue across her bloody lip and pushed it slightly into his mouth, until she was satisfied that there was enough blood in his mouth and withdrew it. Even as she drew back to sit on her heels, he didn't move a muscle.

She sighed in exasperation and clamped his mouth shut with her hand. "Manservant, _swallow!_" she snapped.

Obediently, and so quickly that she suspected he barely even knew what he was doing, he gulped. She smiled in satisfaction. She could already feel her power begin to well up, somehow amplified by the boy that she'd just made into her contractor.

"Now, let's see how this works," she murmured to herself. She reached out a hand, and with a mere thought, the blood-red scythe appeared in her clenched fist. She could feel a maniacal smile spread across her face. She stood up and spun around, so that her back was to the contracting boy.

"Now...let's try _this!_"

She lifted the scythe high above her head, then brought it down in a single, razor-sharp stroke, aiming for the fabric of space that she knew was there but couldn't see. There was a shattering noise, like glass breaking, and she watched as a gaping black hole appeared where she'd swung.

"Come on, manservant!" she yelled. Her face was still twisted in that strange expression she'd never experienced before. "You're my power source. I can't be leaving you behind, now, can I?"

When he still didn't move - shock, she guessed - she grabbed his white collar and threw him into the darkness, then jumped in, following close behind.

The moment she'd vanished, the gap began to heal itself, growing in from the edges until it looked like it had never been there in the first place.

~~~**THE CLOCKS START TICKING~~~**

There was a soft _clink_ing noise as the girl put down her teacup.

The man standing by the window looked over. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, nothing." She looked down into her rippling tea. "I just felt something odd." She frowned slightly, creasing the skin between her eyebrows. "Somebody just made a doorway, and they're coming through."

"How can _you_ tell?"

She looked over to the dark corner of her room, where she knew the other man stood. "Don't be like that," she said with a tight smile. "Unless you _want_ me to..."

"I-I didn't mean it like that." The man's voice held just the slightest hint of panic now. "I just meant, how can you tell? I thought your powers were..."

"The pathways to the Abyss are all made of darkness."

He spoke again, even though he knew he'd probably get a slap on the head for it. "Then why can you never find them?"

Her smile grew tighter. "The gates are never open. Otherwise...we'd all be home already."

* * *

**A/N: **Yaaaay! I finally finished a chapter! _Finally! After so friggin long!_

Yeah. I kinda got severe writer's block...and I thought I still had it...but then I started writing and, bam! The chapter was finished before I even knew it. Honestly, the writing part of my brain is _weird._ It just does stuff without my permission. I kinda hate it, but it's better than not writing at all. I'll try to finish the next chapters for all my other fanfics, too.

Anyway, a brief note on pairings. The pairings for this story, and for all of Pandora Hearts in general for me, is (in my opinion) pretty confusing. I'll just list it all here, so you know what to expect:

Ozlice (duh).

GilbertxAda (also kinda duh).

BreakxSharon (duh).

One-sided JackxLacie (he _like_ likes her, but she thinks of him as a friend).

One-sided ChesirexAlyss.

One-sided AlyssxJack.

One-sided ZweixVincent.

One-sided VincentxEcho.

One-sided EchoxOz.

Aaand... I think that's it. If I drew all these pairings as a mind map, I feel like it would be a spider web - the mother of all tangles...


	4. Chapter 4

**"A/N:** Goddamnit. AdaxVincent or AdaxGil? SO HARD TO DECIDE. Probably AdaxGil, though. Just 'cuz.

Yay, another chapter - Alice and Oz have escaped the Abyss (it was the Abyss, by the way, in case you hadn't figured it out) and they're going to meet Sharon and Raven and Break and everyone and you'll (maybe) find out why this fanfic is called Pandora's Home... Probably not, but still...

Enjoy!

* * *

"...mmph..."

"Ah, look at that, Raven!" a bright male voice chirped. "The kid's waking up!"

_R...Raven...?_

Oz blinked and squinted at the face before him. It took a while for his eyes to adjust to the light and focus on the man, but when they did, he felt a scowl begin to spread on this face.

Just looking at this man was _pissing him off._

The man grinned and waved around a lollipop. "Yep! Raven, he's awake!"

"**A_nd_ y_o_u _ca_n b_e_t _th_e g_ir_l w_i__l_l _b_e s_o_o_n,_to**_**o!**"_**  
**

Oz felt ready to leap out of his skin. The doll - the freaky-looking doll _spoke!_ What the heck was going on here?!

"Y-Y-Y-Y..." he stammered, pointing at the doll. "Y-Your doll... It spoke!"

"Ah, don't be mean to her." The man smiled angelically and patted the doll on the head. "She's not _just_ a doll. She's my dear, sweet, beloved Emily."

"_**Ku**_**h k_u_h _k_u_h_!" **Emily rattled back and forth with laughter. "_**Y**_**ou_r _n_am_e _i_s _O_z, i_s__n_'t _i_t?_!_? _Y_ou_'r_e _a_ v_er_y _r_u_d_e _b_o_y_, O_z!_ _M_e_a_n! M_e_a_n_!_!_"**

Oz felt a chill spread down his spine. Oh, how he would _love_ to punch this annoying man in the face. And the doll, too, while he was at it. He couldn't decide if he was more afraid of the doll or more pissed at the man.

"Break, stop annoying him."

Oz felt himself relax. Something about that voice felt... Comforting. And familiar. He turned to look at the newcomer, who'd stepped out of the shadows.

The tall, pale-skinned man was dressed in black, nearly the same colour as his curly, messy hair. He stared at Oz from under the brim of his hat with piercing golden eyes.

_Gil._

His eyes were just like Gil's eyes.

"G... Gil?"

The man stared at Oz. Oz knew that this man couldn't possibly be Gil. Gil's birthday was in two months. This man was, what? Twenty?

The lollipop man - what was his name? Break? - glanced back and forth between Oz and the Gil look-alike with a crooked smile. "Raaaveeen! Look, the young master's awake!"

Raven shot Break a look and pulled his hat down over his eyes. "Don't call him 'young master'," he grumbled. Break flapped his overly-long sleeves at him teasingly.

"Aaaah, the young master probably wants some tea! Mr. Servant, Raven, why don't you go get him some?"

"I'm not the young master!"

Break paused, mid-sentence, mouth open in surprise. Oz clenched his fists in the blanket and repeated it:

"I'm _not_ the young master."

Break grinned and waved an arm, clearly amused. "Okay then - _master_. Why don't you just let your humble servant get you some tea? And in the meantime, we'll wait for the girl to wake up!"

Oz blinked. "Huh? You mean Alice?"

Come to think of it, where _was_ Alice? he wondered. His question was quickly answered by a loud roar.

"Ooooooozz! _Where are you? Stupid manservant!_"

Break beamed. "And here comes Sleeping Beauty."

The door flew off its hinges with a huge _bang,_ and in the doorway stood Alice. She was squinty-eyed with rage, panting so hard that Oz couldn't help but think she'd dashed all the way to his room._  
_

"Oz!" Alice yelled, rushing forward and shaking Oz so hard his head rattled back and forth. "Where the heck are we? Where did you take us, stupid manservant? Did I give you permission to infiltrate this gang of smiling, candy-addicted idiots?"

"Ah, yes," the 'smiling, candy-addicted idiot' said pleasantly. "I'm afraid that Alice was a bit..._violent_ when she first woke up, so I was forced to put her to sleep. And, unfortunately, I'm the only 'smiling, candy-addicted idiot' around here. I'm so sorry to disappoint."

He smiled. Alice growled at him. "Why, you little..."

She clenched a fist, but before she could lunge, a hand clenching a paper fan came out of the curtain's shadow and smacked him on the head.

"Now, now, Break," a dangerously sweet voice said. "You don't want to give our guests the wrong impression, do you?"

As Break clutched the top of his head, the hand reached out further until the sleeve came out of the shadows, then the rest of the arm joined by a foot. Oz gaped as a girl stepped out of the shadowed wall with a childish smile and armed with a fan.

"Hello, Oz. My name is Sharon Rainsworth. I don't suppose you know me?"

Oz continued to gape for a few seconds, then seemed to realize where he was. Just as Alice opened her mouth to growl an answer, Oz beamed, leapt to the ground in front of her, and held out a rose. "I'd remember if I ever met someone so beautiful! My name is Oz Vessalius, and I think-"

"Oh, no need to flatter me!" Sharon giggled and smacked him with her fan. "I know all about you. All of us do, actually."

Oz stayed, frozen, in his pose for a few minutes. Then he dropped his rose and sighed. "Aw, even though you're so cute, you're too cold-hearted..."

Sharon's smile stayed frozen on her face. She lifted her paper fan and smacked it into the palm of her hand. "Excuse me? What-"

Alice interrupted her with a fist to the top of Oz's head. "Leave my manservant alone," she growled. "I don't need him to turn into a candy-addicted idiot like that freak over there."

If Break was hurt by her comment, he didn't show it. "Princess, would you care to constrain the bunny before she hurts anyone?"

"I'm not a princess," Sharon said with a dark smile. She put her fan behind her back and closed her eyes. Almost imperceptibly, the shadows beneath the bed began to wriggle and advance toward Alice. By the time she noticed, they'd already flown up and wrapped themselves around her torso, firmly holding her arms against her sides, and pulled her back to the end of the bed.

"_Argh!_" Alice bared her teeth and kicked the floor. "Let me go, you stupid lady! How dare you confine-"

"Please cooperate, Alice." Sharon's smile turned just a little bit more malicious. Alice stopped thrashing around. "I'd hate to have take drastic measures to ensure the safety of everyone here."

Oz gaped at her. Almost subconsciously, he began to inch away. Sure, he loved a pretty face just as much as any pubescent boy, but a pretty face that came with a bite? Uh... Not so much.

Sharon turned her smile onto Oz, and he gulped. "Now, I suppose you're wondering why you're here in the first place. Take a seat. We'll fill you in on the situation, and then you'll be free to ask any questions you may have."

Oz didn't move an inch. Sharon waited for a few minutes, then took a few steps forward, until she was staring at Oz down the bridge of her nose. "_Take a seat_," she said through slightly gritted teeth. "Okay?"

He dashed for the only available chair in the room and seated himself. Sharon's expression brightened.

"Perfect! Now, Raven, why don't you start us off?"

Raven, who'd just come out of the dark corner, began to inch back into the shadows. He stopped when Sharon turned her half-smile, half-glare onto him. "Well..." He coughed and pulled his hat down over his eyes. "As you two know already, this girl is Sharon Rainsworth, the adopted daughter of the Rainsworth household. This man, Xerxes Break, is her manservant, and I-"

"**Y_o_u _f_o_r_g_o_t_ m_e_!_!_!_"**

Raven jumped when Emily spoke. "R-Right. And the doll on Break's shoulder, as I'm sure you know, is Emily."

"Forget the stupid doll," Alice growled, shooting "the stupid doll" a murderous glare. "Just tell us why the heck we're _here_ and why _I'm_ tied up!"

Raven gave Alice a cool look. "Hey, stupid rabbit. Why don't you shut up? I'm trying to explain something here."

"Yeah, Alice!" Oz added. For some reason, he couldn't help but join the golden-eyed stranger's side. "Don't you want him to explain?"

Raven ignored Alice's grumbles and continued. "The three of us, as well as a few other people you'll meet later, are part of an organization called Pandora."

Oz waited for Raven to continue explaining. When he didn't say anything, Oz asked, "And what do you guys do?"

Break beamed. "Well, that's the thing, actually. We don't really _know_ what to do."

Sharon giggled at the look of shock on Oz's face. "Don't confuse him like that, Break," she scolded. "We call ourselves Pandora because, in the legend, Pandora opened her box, and all sorts of things ran out. Well, what we do is we search for our home."

Oz stared at her. And stared. And stared some more while trying to come up with something to say. "Wait...what do you mean, your 'home'?"

Alice pouted. "This has something to do with the place I came from, doesn't it?"

"Ding ding ding! Well, what do you know?" Break laughed. "The rabbit got it right!"

"We're searching for our home because none of us know where we come from." Sharon sighed and stared into the distance. "We're all the same. We're orphans, picked up from the streets, with no clue of where we come from or how we got where we are."

Oz could feel a slight tingling on the back of his neck.

Why did that sound so familiar?

"So we thought that, maybe, we all come from the same place." Sharon gave Oz a wistful smile. "We think that place is our home.

* * *

**A/N:** O.O Is it just me, or did this just get a little...cracky? I dunno. It sounds a lot like the crackfics I've read so far... It's probably because I've been reading crackmanga recently, though. I've very very sorry. I hope no one minds too horribly much... m( _ _ )m *Bows in shame.*

And the reason Sharon is "princess" and not "ojou-sama" is because, if I call her by a Japanese name, I'll feel obliged to call other people Japanese names too. So I'm using English nicknames all the way through. I hope nobody minds too horribly much. (And wow, I just realized that I ended the first paragraph of the A/N the exact same way WITHOUT REALIZING IT.)


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** So, I finished the plan for fanfic! Yay! Even though it's illegible because I wrote it in the middle of the night while I was trying to fall asleep, so I won't be able to understand it! But that's okay, because it's better than nothing! Hopefully, with its help, I'll be able to update more than once every few months... -_-'

And so, ladies and gentlemen, after running out of things to rant about, I present you with... The next chapter!

* * *

"That doesn't answer my question about how I'm tied up!" Alice snapped.

Sharon tilted her head sideways. "Well, another reason we all think we come from the same place is because we all have powers. I can control shadows."

She stepped backward and, before their very eyes, sank into her own shadow. A moment after she fully disappeared, she stepped out of the dark corner that Raven had been hiding in minutes ago. She beamed. "See?"

Alice gritted her teeth. If she was impressed, she showed no sign of it. Oz, on the other hand, was awestruck.

"Wow!" he gasped, wide-eyed. "That was like a magic trick! What about you guys? What can you do?"

Raven looked down and didn't answer. Break cheerily spoke for him.

"Gloomy Raven over there can do anything with guns, and I have Emily!"

"**K_u_h_ k_u_h _k_u_h _k_u_h_!" **Emily rattled back and forth. "**T_h_a_t_'s _n_o_t _a_l_l _t_h_o_u_g_h_!_! _B_r_e_a_k _c_a_n _f_i_g_h_t_ w_e_l_l_! _H_e_'s_ f_a_s_t_e_r _t_h_a_n _m_o_s_t _h_u_m_a_n_s_!_!_"**

"Aw, don't say that, Emily," Break said, feigning embarrassment. "You're making me blush."

Break ignored the look of total disgust on Oz and Alice's faces. "Can I kill you, you stupid clown?" she growled, straining against the shadowy bonds that held her in place. "You make me sick."

"Aw, that's not a nice thing to say..." Break frowned. "Alice, you're mean!"

"There are more of us," Sharon continued, ignoring the dagger-eyed glare Alice gave Break, "but I'm sure they'll be happy to tell you their powers once you meet them. As my grandmother says: Don't put the cart before the horse."

Oz nodded, already done absorbing all the information. "So, where's my sister?"

Sharon's smile faded. "Your...sister?"

He nodded, unaware of the sudden tension in the room. "Yeah. Ada Vessalius? She's my sister, the adopted daughter of Zai Vessalius? She made it out of the house, didn't she?"

Raven sighed and buried his face in his hands. "The Vessalius dukedom is destroyed."

_What?_

"When Zai Vessalius's house burned down ten years ago..."

_What?_

"...he went missing, presumed dead. Your sister-"

"My sister's still safe though, right?"

"He was getting to that," Break murmured, crunching down on the last of his lollipop and unwrapping a new one. "Don't worry, she's fine. Your cute little servant, is, too. In fact, he's right-"

His next words were covered by a loud banging noise. Raven quickly hid his smoking gun when Sharon turned his way with a painted smile. "Yes, Raven? What's wrong?"

He gulped. "Uh...uh..."

Sharon walked up to him, and he shrunk back. Looking at them, you would never have guessed that he was a full foot, and then some, taller than her. "_Yes? What's the matter, Raven? Is there a Baskerville in here? Is that what prompted you to start firing your gun?_"

Oz chuckled. Raven looked just like Gil did whenever he was being threatened with a cat.

_...Gil._

"Where are Gil and Ada?" he demanded. "They didn't die in the fire, did they? Can you please take me to them right away?"

"Of course we will!" Sharon turned around and flashed him a sweet smile. "I think we should take you to your old house, though, first. All right? It'll be better to feed you all this in small doses."

Alice frowned. "Hey, Sharon lady. Who's Baskerville?"

Sharon ignored Alice. "I'm sure there's a carriage available. We'll stop by the Vessalius estate, and then..."

"Hey, hey, hey."

Sharon clenched her fists ever so slightly. "...I'm sure your sister will be pleased to-"

A vein began to pulse in Alice's temple. The only warning they had was a slight growl, and then Alice ripped apart the shadows binding her.

"Stop ignoring me, you little good-for-nothing princess!" she roared. The moment she said "good-for-nothing," Break began to inch away from the "princess". Alice continued. "What's Baskerville?"

Sharon gave Alice a sweet smile. If it weren't for the vein pulsing in her temple, her image would've been perfect: A kind, innocent, perfectly happy little girl. "Alice, please, calm yourself. I'd hate to hurt you any more than needed."

Without a warning, large, jagged shadows flew up from behind Alice and wrapped themselves around her again. They were still trying to get a good grip on her when she tore herself free and transformed into her black rabbit form.

"What... Is... Baskerville?" she growled. Her two chains were whipping through the air behind her, cutting through the bedposts and narrowly missing the tuft of hair on top of Oz's head. He scrambled backward and yelled, "Alice! Alice, _stop!_"

She froze, and her chains came to a slow halt. She turned her head and growled at him. "Oz, don't interfere!"

He held her gaze even as he tried to stop his hands from shaking. "Alice, turn back into your human form," he said, with as much calmness as he could muster. "I'm sure Lady Sharon will be happy to share her knowledge about Baskerville with us."

She gritted her teeth, but she couldn't resist it: She collapsed as her human self, and Sharon used that opportunity to bind her again.

"Please be patient, Alice," Sharon chided. "I was talking to Oz when you rudely interrupted. Normally, I'd demand an apology, but I'll spare you this once." She turned to Oz, who involuntarily shuddered. "And you - you need to tell me how you did that."

Oz raised his hands. "I-I-I have no idea! It just... Happened!"

He gulped as Sharon loomed over him. Being tied up in shadows did _not_ look fun, and he tried to appease her before she decided that he was a threat, too.

"T-The first time I did it was when Alice and I first met, and I just told her to stop, and she did! I swear, I don't know why, it just happened..."

Sharon stared down at him suspiciously. "Really?"

Oz nodded eagerly. "Yeah! I promise!"

"Leave him alone, princess." Break grinned. "If you don't, just think about what Raven would do."

Sharon sighed, and suddenly, she turned back into her princess-self. "I'm so sorry, Oz! But... Please, understand that we have to be really careful. After all, if the Baskervilles were to infiltrate the Pandora organization..." She paused, aware of Alice's dagger-like glare. "I suppose I ought to explain who the Baskervilles are." She giggled. "All right. We'll explain it to you on our way to the Vessalius mansion."

* * *

**A/N:** Oh my freaking god. My sister...is...amazing.

Okay. Okay. So. My sister has a weird obsession with dyeing her hair odd colours. The first one was pink, and she bleached or something her hair to make it orange before dyeing it pink, because it she didn't, her hair would've been too dark for the pink to show. Lately it's been washing out, so she decided to try dyeing it blue, since blue's a pretty colour and whatnot - even though her hair is currently pink/orange. She just showed me the end results.

_She has dark green hair. _Guess what I called her.

SEAWEED HEAD!

I am so happy right now. I can make a kind of funny PH reference which people will laugh at even if they haven't heard of it.

Oh. My. Freaking. God. She just made my day. XD

Okay, yeah. So, ignoring the above randomness (I'm sorry, I just had to rant about it to _someone_), I know that Sharon's powers are a bit different from the actual series - everyone's powers are - but that's the beauty of an AU. And if people are OOC, really sorry, it's just because I've been reading too many other manga recently.


End file.
